


The Day Hell Came to Earth.

by Renshar



Series: The Mourners of The Damned [1]
Category: Mourners of the Damned
Genre: Angels, Apocalypse, Dark Magic, Delinquent, Demons, Don't Try This At Home, Earth, F/M, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Magic Revealed, Multi, Not good advice, Old Gods, Original Fiction, Poor Life Choices, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22553278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renshar/pseuds/Renshar
Summary: Monster descended on the city like a plague of locusts. Cath was certain that thousands if not hundreds of thousands died in the first few days, let alone the first week. Here, hold up in a literal hole in the ground the best he could do was hide. Hide, and hope to god that his friends were still alive. That somehow they had managed to get out of the city before the quarantine was set into place. As he grabbed his makeshift weapon, and fastened his stolen riot gear back into place, he thought back on the strange set of events that lead him here.
Series: The Mourners of The Damned [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622698





	1. The Shift.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carth, Hiela, Dominic, and Joan had all become fast friends during high school, and they were near inseparable after their first semester of college. So when Joan decided to skip out on the first day of the next semester, the others all did too. Looking back, its easy to say that was the only thing that saved them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at an original work of fiction. I hope you enjoy it. Please comment on how I did, and how I can improve.

Carth had always thought Joan was the laziest of the group, But skipping out on the first day of the new semester was an entirely new level of slacker. The bus pulled into place along the sidewalk. The three of them all boarded and waved their student passes at the driver. Of course Dominic and Hiela had to come along with him. The second he asked Hiela to take extra notes for class, she had grown suspicious. Hiela then in turn asked Dominic to take extra notes for their shared classes, this brought him into the ever continuing domino line. All of which led here, to the three of them trying to find Joan through his cell signal, finding he had boarded a bus at 6:30 in the damn morning, and then the three of them boarding a bus at 8:00 going the same direction. 

_"And you're sure that he's still right there?"_ Dominic poked at Hiela's phone, the display flickering and cutting in and out. His thick brown finger left a smudge on the flickering screen, it would seem he forgot to wipe off the grease from his latest engineering project. He grabbed the brim on his leather hat, and brought it down infront of his face. With his other hand he pulled up the leather collar on his trench coat. This worked both to hide his embarrassment at having left such a mess on Hielas phone, and block some of the tyraid that was about to be yelled at him. 

_"HEY! Watch what you're doing! Ah! What did you do to my phone? Did you break it?"_ Hiela was shaking her phone, despite knowing full well that wouldn't stabilize the screen. She grabbed a small tool from her bag, and started to pop open the screen on her phone. About 20 seconds later, it was working again.

_"It's not just yours, mines on the fritz too."_ Carth picked up his phone and showed the static that was displayed on the screen. All of their phones had been acting strangely for the last few days. According to the message boards on campus, it was caused by some error in the last big software update. He put his phone back into the zipper pocket of his coat. He was glad he had thought to bring it, the weather had taken a turn in the night and it was snowing outside. While the thing wasn't nearly as big, heavy, or full of damn pockets as Dominics monster of a trench coat, it still protected him from the elements just fine.

_"To answer your question Dominic, I'm not sure. All I know is that’s where his phone was the last two times I pinged it."_ Hiela was a savant when it came to tech but with their phones problems effectively running interference, she was limited in what she could do. Honestly Carth was amazed that her phone was working at all. Even if it wasn't working, Hiela had to have at least half a dozen electronic devices in that damn bag of hers. It was an oversized thing, and the only reason it didn't cause her to topple over when she wore it was because of the custom made strapping that kept it in place. Carth knew specifically about the strapping for one reason. He had been forced to make them and attach them to the damn backpack as a gift to Hiela last month for her birthday. The fact that she wouldn't just let him make a new backpack from the ground up had cost him at least a week of work. The light blue cloth contrasted with the grey hoodie she was wearing. 

_"What is he even doing at a construction site?"_ asked Dominic as he adjusted his coat so he could sit down. The thing was as tall as he was, with so many pockets inside he could hold half his room in there. _"I don't know."_ Replied Hiela as she straightened her back pack. They weren't going to make it to class today, why in the world did she bring it? _"Did he get a job or something? Why didn't he tell us?"_ Dominic kept asking question after question. All of which were answered by _"I don't know."_ or _"Why don't you ask HIM that when we get there?"_ Carth could feel the rising irritation from the small woman next to him. He decided to intervene before Hiela killed Dominic. _"Let's just focus on what we know for sure. We know he asked me to take note for him yesterday, so he had to have planned this. Aside from that, what do we know?"_ Carth looked around at his friends, he really hoped that they weren't as clueless as he was. _"I heard..."_ Dominic said. _"That place is haunted. Actually, I think Joan is the one who told me about it."_ Now that was a lead. _"He kept sayin somethin' about demons, or maybe it was monsters. Ya know, urban legends and stuff."_ Both Carth and Hiela let out a pair of long, suffering sighs. All three of them had dealt with Joan's little obsession before. _"What kind of fun does he find in chasing down these rumors anyway?"_

The bus bounced as it hit something. There was a 'pop' and the driver was having to work hard to make sure that the bus didn't tip over. The sound of metal scraping on asphalt was deafening. _"HOLD ON!"_ the driver yelled as the bus went into the sidewalk. The sound of rending metal and splintering plastics could be heard as it ground into the concrete next to the road. The bus ever so slowly came to a stop halfway off the road. _"Shit! Is everyone okay?"_ Dominic helped Carth get back to his feet. _"What did we hit? A bear trap?"_ Hiela dusted herself off and stepped out of the bus. _"There she goes again. Come on Dominic."_ The pair of friends followed Hiela out of the beached wreck that was once a bus. _"Oh God!"_ What they saw was horrific, a red smear led from the bus to a lump of meat and bones. It was about the size of a large dog and it was covered in bony protrusions. Carth was walking over to it before he knew what was going on. 

_"I-Is it dead?"_ he heard Dominic ask. 

_"I don't know, but I plan to find out. Hiela, call animal control. If this thi-"_ Carth didn't finish his sentence for one very important reason. The **thing** that they hit had started to move. It got up and started to limp toward the bus. It looked even worse moving, like the love child of the chupacabra and a hyena. It was covered in a wrinkly mottled red hide. It was also almost completely bald, except for a stripe of brown fur down the middle of its head. That same head had twin horns pointing at Carth. It's eyes fixed on him, and it started charging. _"Oh CRAP!"_ Halfway through its charge. Its front legs gave out and it crashed into the ground in front of him. Dominic and Hiela came running beside Carth. Dominic reached into his coat and pulled out a short machete of all things. The blade was nearly a foot long, and one edge was serrated. Just as the thing was getting up again, there was a loud BANG, and its head caved in as the bullet passed through it. Everyone looked behind them to see the bus driver, still holding a handgun. _"What? It was obviously rabid, just don't tell the cops that I had this thing alright. I'm getting out of here. They don't pay me enough to deal with crazy animals."_ With that the driver and the few other people who were in the bus all walked toward the small building that served as a bus stop. 

_"What the hell is this thing?"_ Carth was crouched next to the dog like thing. _"I don't know, but man is it nasty."_ Dominic was poking at its side with his machete. _"Are we going to talk about the fact you pulled out a weapon from your coat?"_ Hiela was about 5 feet away from the pair of idiots who were messing with the monstrous thing. _"Do you mean to tell me that in that massive bag you take everywhere, you don't carry anything to defend yourself with?"_ Dominic sounded absolutely confused. _"Well, I have pepper spray."_ Hiela said indignantly. Both Carth and Dominic looked at her in a way that said 'really?'. _"Carth isn't carrying anything!"_ In response Carth reached into his boots and pulled out a pair of 6 inch throwing blades. _"You were saying? There are more in here if you want to see them "_ Hiela looked away out of embarrassment, then she spoke up again. _"You guys are absolutely insane! If campus security catches you with those things you will get expelled!"._ She looks around at the scene of what the police would probably call a hit and run. _"We should probably go, having to wait around for hours answering the police wouldn't be the most productive use of our time."_ That was something Carth definitely agreed with. _"Hiela, how far away are we from Joan?"_ This time she was the one giving a look. _"Wha- Oh. You can't be- Fine!"_ Carth couldn't believe she was being a stickler on this! _"How far are we from his_ **_phone_ ** _?"_ Hiela pulled out her phone and started swiping through one of the apps she had on it. _"According to this ping, we are about a mile away... guess we should start walking..."_

20 minutes and a lot of complaining from Dominic later, they arrived at the construction site. A concrete building, nearly four stories high, loomed before the group. There was trash all over the place as they entered. Old bottles of every shape, size, and color, were strewn about. Some had been smashed and sharp glass littered the floor in many places. There were signs that people had been living here, bed rolls and cardboard boxes were gathered in various corners on the first floor. Despite the lack of work done on the inside, the building was nearly finished. Though, the work of time had given the place a worn down feeling. Hiela piped up: _"Hey Carth, why was this place abandoned again? It looks like solid construction, hell it's better than half the stuff on campus."_ Carth set down the red stained cloth he had picked up. _"I don't know, but I heard it was something about public outrage at where it was being built. I think the city council tore down a church or something to build this place."_ Hiela rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a flashlight. Shining it at the two of them, she said. _"Are you guys going to spout trivia all day, or are we going to find Joan? Come on, my phone says his phone is up."_ With that she made for the stairwell. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a pile of bones high enough to mostly block the stairs. There were femurs, tibia, hips, and skulls. All of which Carth recognized from his Anatomy classes. They were all human bones. There was a long silence before _"Jesus Christ!"_ came out of Dominic, who then singed the holy cross on his body. _"Nope."_ Hiela closed the door, turned around, and started for the fire escape that sat on the outside of the building. _"Nope. Nu uh. Not today."_ She climbed out the broken window next to the stairwell and then reached for the chain that connected to the pull ladder. Carth and Dominic joined her shortly, _"Having a bit of trouble there shortstop?"_ Hiela hatted being reminded of her height, or lack thereof, And both Carth and Dominic knew it. The attempt at a joke seemed to highlight the horror of what they had just seen, instead of distracting from it. Then Dominic, in all his 6 feet of glory, pulled the chain and ladder down with one hand. 

The three of them were climbing the ladders and stairs that comprised the fire escape when they heard a blood curdling scream. Suddenly the whole building shook as an earthquake hit the area. Just as the shacking was starting to subside, A blast of lightning hit the roof of the building just as they were reaching the top of the final ladder. The flash of light blinded all of them for several long seconds. When any of them could see again, what they saw would stick with them for the rest of their lives. There was a tear in the air, light was bending around the edge of it and a red barren landscape could be seen through it. They also saw Joan, holding a long sharp bone. Said bone was also sticking out of the skull of someone belt over an object on the other side of the roof. 

_"What the_ **_HELL_ ** _IS GOING ON!"_ Yelled Dominic once again.

Joan turned around. _"uh... Shit! I can explain later. Right now I need your help disposing of this body."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, thats where I'll leave you for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to tell me how I did.  
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Not What It Looks Like.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joan Never thought much about doomsday preppers, or people who swore up and down that the world would end. At this exact moment he felt like the embodiment for karma had comedown from heaven, and beat him over the head with a baseball bat. Of course this shit would happen to him today. What the hell was he going to do about the body?

It had been one of those nights. For the life of him, Joan just couldn't sleep. Of course the day before classes started he had insomnia, nothing to do about. He decided to go for a walk around town, maybe if he could exhaust himself before the morning hit he could actually get some sleep. Snow was lightly falling outside the window next to his bed. He looked over at the clock, 4:30. He had about 8 hours before the first class of the semester started. As he got up off his bed and started to put on his boots, the person in the bed across the room stirred. Shit! He forgot about Carth.

 _"Dude? What are you doing up at this time of night?"_ Carth rubbed at his eyes.

 _"It's nothing, hey I'm going out for a while. Just go back to sleep alright?"_ Joan felt kinda bad he woke up Carth, poor dude had been studying for hours before he got to sleep.

 _"Whatever man, just get back here before classes start up. Hiela will roast your balls if you skip out on the first day."_ Carth said as he rolled over and tucked himself back in.

 _"Thanks for that mental Image..."_ Joan groaned as he laced up his boots and stepped out the door.

Joan left the student apartments in a hurry, snow was falling all around him. _"Jeez, you'd think the weather stations would have warned us about a storm coming in."_ He was glad he had put on his heavier coat when he left, otherwise he would be freezing. He had been jogging for at least an hour when he was on his way back. He was walking up to the convenience store next to the apartments, thankfully they were open 24 hours a day. Just as he was about to enter and warm up, he saw a man in dirty rags enter an alleyway across the street. _"What the..."_ That dude would freeze to death dressed like that. Was there some kind of convention going on that he didn't know about? Joan couldn't just let some dude wander around in weather like this, the guy was probably drunk or high and didn't realize how damn cold it was. After crossing the street he walked up behind the dude, _"Hey man, are you ok? It's damn cold out here, what are you doing here?"_ Joan reached to grab the man's shoulder. As his hand landed, the man turned quickly and revealed his face. this strange man was bald with weird tattoos covering his entire head. A large beard came to a point several inches away from his face. What grabbed Joans attention were the man's eyes, bloodshot and frenzied for a moment. Those eyes cleared up as they landed on Joan. _"Ah, th-thank you young man. Do... Do you know where I am?"_ The man then seemed to look around, like he was just noticing the world. Something else Joan noticed now, was the smell of the man. He smelled like sulfur and rotten seafood. 'He must be homeless...' Joan had heard that the cities homeless sometimes wandered onto campus, but he hadn't seen any. Now that he thought about it, according to the news, the number of homeless people in the city had be dropping recently. _"Do you have somewhere to go? Are you alright?"_ If the guy had somewhere he went most nights Joan had to at least try and get him there. _"A-Ah yes, I have somewhere to sleep tonight. Could you be so kind as to help me get there, I think I'm quite lost."_ At that a sheepish smile grew on the mans face. Well, he was out here anyway, might as well get his daily act of kindness out of the way. " _You're on The City College campus right now, near the north end. How do we get you home?"_ The mans face looked like a revelation had just dawned

 _"Ah, thank you, If we take the bus I could get there very soon. Would you walk me there, I don't know if I will remember all the way there."_

" _Alright, I just have to make a call."_ Joan turned round to make a call, and missed the sneer the old man made.

_"Hey, Carth ya there man?"_

Carth, now definitely awake, answered the phone call that so rudely ended his dreams. _"I am NOW! What are doing calling at 5:50 in the morning. Dude it's way too early."_

_"Hey, I'm going to miss the morning classes, would you mind taking extra notes for me so I don't miss out on whatever bullshit the test on the second day will be over. Thanks!"_

Joan ended the call before Carth could refuse, He started walking down the alleyway and toward the nearest bus stop. The pair caught the 6:00 o'clock bus. _"The place is just a few stops from here. Er-I think at least."_ Now that they were both in better light, Joan could see the man he was accompanying far better. Along with the odd tattoos and scraggly beard, he had pok marks all over his face, and there was a large scar on the right side of his face. When he opened his mouth, there were yellowed and stained teeth. The Bus ride was short, but still long enough that walking would have taken far too long in the cold. The "building" that the homeless man said was were he stayed... well at least it was an actual structure. What they walked up on, was a large concrete building. It was a mostly finished multi-level building not unlike a parking complex. Joan entered the building, followed quickly by the homeless man. After entering, a shiver went up Joans spine. An eerie feeling fell over him. The very air here felt weird. There was a smell in the air that wasn't entirely unpleasant. In an attempt to distract himself from the odd sensation, it finally occurred to him that he had never actually asked the mans name. Without turning around Joan asked: _"Hey, I meant to ask you earlier, what is you name?"_ He was answered with a blow to the back of his head. It was hard enough knock him out. As the lights dimmed and the world fell away, joan heard the man say something. _"Oh, don't you worry about that. Soon, you wont have to worry about ~anything~."_ Those final words were laced with enough malice that Even the fading mind of Joan could feel the hostility.

When he regained consciousness he was chained to the ground in a small room. It was no smaller than his bed room in the apartment, and there was a door on the other end of the room from him. The dim light that came through a window in the wall behind him illuminated a section of the floor. Said section of floor had a human skull on it. Something else that was lit by the widow, was the monster that was sleeping near him. It was the size of a large dog, with bones piercing through its thick bald skin at various locations. It had a pair of bone-like horns on its head. It was covered in wounds and sores, blood seeped from where its boney spikes came out of its skin. There was a small pool of the maroon liquid surrounding the thing. If not for the fact it was moving when it breathed, Joan would have sworn it was dead. Joan looked down at his hands and saw a shackle bound to his left arm, a rusty chain connected from the shackle to a piece of metal that looked like it had been beaten into a looped shape. Said piece of metal was embedded in the ground next to the sleeping monstrosity. He checked his shackles trying to find some way to get out of the. He saw a cut in his arm that was bleeding slowly. Just above it was another shallower cut. As he watched, the shallower one seemed to seal up and the deeper one slowed its spillage. Unfortunately, despite how bedraggled and shody as they seemed, he couldn't find anyway to break free or slip out of them. He was panicking now, the adrenaline rush from waking up in irons next to a monster was now failing to keep the sensicle part of his brain from hitting the histeria button. He took a deep breath, he could feel his senses slipping. Remembering his survival training, specifically the phrase _"If you panic near a predator, you will be eaten like the dumbass you are."_ he calmed down. He took another deep breath to steady his nerves. With a look as the chains, this time he followed them all the way to the anchor that was being used to hold him in this place. The thing looked like it was one good yank away from breaking. Problem was... it was right next to the beast thing that was still laying on the ground. He creeped over toward the piece of rebar. If he could just pull it out of the concrete... Grabbing the jagged metal in his hands, he noticed it was warm. In fact, the whole room was warmer than it should have been. He didn't have time to contemplate that however. Pulling as slowly and quietly as he could, Joan slowly worked the rod out of the ground. It was almost out when his foot slipped on the blood on the ground. Joan went crashing down, his head bouncing off of the ground next to the horned head of the monster. He heard the sound of his head impersonating a dodgeball, and his own groan of pain afterward. Realizing that maybe making sound next to the thing that looks like it would eat him for breakfast and ask for seconds was a bad idea. He looked up from the ground, and saw the yellow eye on the side of its head open and stare at him. That was it, he was going to die. It opened its large mouth to reveal 2 rows of serrated teeth, and moved it toward his head. Maybe it would be quick. Joan closed his eyes and readied himself to have those sharp teeth enter his skull. Instead, a hot, rough tongue passed over his face. The thing let out a yawn that was closer to a yowl, and promptly went back to sleep.

He wasn't dead? He wasn't dead! Joan got back up, this time he didn't bother being quiet. The shock of still living was currently boosting him to cloud nine. The second time he tried to remove the spike, he didn't try to hurry. He also didn't worry about the amount of noise he made. Working the rebar out of the floor, Joan decided to leave before the dog thing remembered it was a monster and chose to eat him. He made for the door and the beast got up to walk beside him. At this point nothing could shock him, Joan put 50/50 chances on the damn thing talking. The dog beast thing stood next to his side, its bald head turned up at him. Its ear flopped over one of the horns, if not for the fact it was nearly as big as a bear and smelled like it had eaten expired velveeta cheese, it would be cute. He opened the door and stepped out onto the roof the building he had entered earlier. 

He was wrong, he could still be shocked. Standing next to a shimmering rent in the air and dancing while saying words in some version of latin of all things, was the old man from Joan's little misadventure. He was facing the odd shine in the air when Joan left the room. The light shedding from the thing in the air felt odd and somewhat familiar. _"HeHeHe, after this I will finally get what I deserve!"_ If it wouldn't have revealed the fact that he was free, Joan would have pointed out how those words invited karmic retribution. Creeping forward, Joan started toward the man that had knocked him out. Taking the hint, the 'dog' hunched and started slowly walking next to Joan. Right as Joan was about to grab the man's head in choking lock, a glint caught his eye. A long dagger made of a single carved bone was laying next to three empty vials on a pedestal like thing. A crimson liquid still clung to the inside of them in places. Joan grabbed the dagger without thinking, just before _"JESUS CHRIST!"_ was yelled from somewhere below them. The old man winced and looked at the thing floating in the air. Said thing writhed and twisted as though in response to the exclaimed words. Joan's head throbbed for a moment. After a second, his mind cleared and he recognised the voice as Dominic's. _"Damn, It looks like I will have to take care of more 'guests'. At least the Hellhound will feed well tonight."_ Joan panicked and ruched the man, tackling him through the shimmer in the air. The man yelled as his face passed through the 'light'. When the pair hit the ground Joan rolled off to the side and got up readying for the mans counter attack. What he saw when he looked that way, was the old man holding his face writhing on the ground. The old man yelled obscenities at Joan, all ranging from jabs at his mother's choice in husbands to the amount of crap between his ears. As he got up, he used one hand to grab onto the pedestal. His hands reached around looking for the dagger. _"Looking for this?"_ Joan said in a wry tone. The cultist, the term seemed to fit judging by everything that Joan had seen, cursed again and laid his eyes on the 'Hellhound'. _"Get HIM!"_ He said pointing at Joan. A swirl of light gathered around the mans hand before winking out. _"What?! That's not possible! You're mine to command you half-baked mut!"_ Perhaps insulting the giant dog monster wasn't the smartest move. As hit moved to stand next to Joan and let out a low growl. The cultist of a man rushed forward to attack Joan. The 'dog' charged at the mans legs and bit into his shin. Joan swung the dagger point first near the mans head. The bit to his shin caused the cultist to fall forward. This had the effect of turning Joans warning swing, into a lethal blow. The point of the serrated blade entered the mans skull and he fell back over the altar-like pedestal. The man's eyes went dark. _"Crap! Oh Crap!"_ Before Joan could panic his way into an accident, and before the 'dog' could start eating the dead man, a horrible scream ripped its way out of the corpses throat. Red light the same hue as that which the man had used before shot out of him. It then arched to the dog, suffusing it with the light and causing a crunching sound. Before Joan could dive out of the way, that same light hit him through the chest and soaked into his body. It burned, and then he screamed. He felt it leave his back and shoot into the rippling light in the air. A sound like rending metal and moaning souls filled the air as an earthquake hit the area. As Joan got back up, he saw Carth, Hiela, and Dominic all crest the top of a fire escape. 

_"What the **HELL** is going_ _on!"_ Dominic yelled.

_"Uh, crap! I can explain later. Right now I need your help disposing of this body."_


	3. Maybe Don't Touch The Unstable Abomination?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There they were, Carth, Joan, Dominic, and Hiela. All four of them just standing around like the idiots they were. Looking at each other with blank, mostly shocked, faces. All while the sky fell around them.

_"Uh, crap! I can explain later. Right now I need your help disposing of this body."_

Joan Just stood there, a raging portal screaming behind him. Carth decided that being half on and half off of the roof was dumb. After he climbed off of the fire escape, both Hiela and Dominic followed him onto the rooftop. Just as Carth was opening his mouth to ask a barrage of questions, Hiela stepped forward. _"I have about 20 questions right now. ALL of which you WILL be answering. For now, all I want to know is this. What. The Fuck."_ her pseudo-yelling could be heard over the sound of reality ripping itself apart. Joan looked at his friends, at the now smaller dog thing, and then at the hole in the fabric of reality. Again, Carth was going to speak up, when he was interrupted, this time by another earthquake. The shaking was twice as rough as the first one. Joan stumbled toward his friends, the dog following him. A voice like the screaming of an angry god, and the cry of a happy newborn boomed around the rooftop. 

**_"̷A̶ ̸po̴r̴t̸a̵l̵ ̷h̷a̸s̷ ̶b̵e̴en̶ ̸o̶p̴e̷ne̶d̷.̸ ̴T̸he̶ ̴S̴e̵a̵l̶ ̶i̸s̴ ̶b̴r̷o̵k̶e̵n̶.̴ ̴B̷are̷ ̴w̵i̵t̶n̴e̸s̵s̸ ̴t̴o̴ ̷th̴e̴ ̷d̸a̴w̷n̷in̴g̴ ̶of̵ ̵a̴ n̶ew Age"̷_**

The voice left everyone stunned for a moment, a part of their minds rejecting it on an instinctual level. A blinding flare of chaotic and shifting lights shown in the direction of the rift in the air. The sight that greeted the four when they turned to see the rip in the air, was horrifying. The shimmer in the air that Joan had seen earlier had become a rent in space. The view through this new thing showed a hellscape littered with monsters and abominations. Dark stone created plateaus and mesas. A red sky was covered in clouds, clouds that showed shadows of colossal monsters high in the sky. All of which were coming towards the now open portal, they were about one hundred meters away from it.

 _"_ CLOSE _IT!"_ Hiela yelled

 _"What?! How?!"_ Joan responded.

 _"I don't know! You caused it!"_ Said Dominic as he reached into his coat and brandished his short machete.

 _"Yell at it or something!"_ Was Carths only reply as he took cover behind a few bags of abandoned concrete mix.

In the time that it took for the group to argue those words, the monstrosities had made it closer to the portal. They were now about 80 meters out. _"Uh... Close! Seal! Shut!"_ Joan kept yelling words and commands. the portal flexed and stretched at each one, but it didn't close. 60 meters. He pulled the dagger out of the cultists head, and waved it about at the portal. Again it shifted and moved, but it didn't seal up. While Joan had been panicking at the rip in reality, while Carth had taken cover and readied his throwing daggers, while Dominic had pulled out his small machete, Hiela had gone over to the altar the old man was draped over. There were a few things littered about. A couple small vials, they didn't seem useful. A heavy leather collar with what looked like barbed wire worked into it, also not useful at the moment. Finally she saw a large book that was half covered by the corpse of the old man. Steadying her nerves, and readying to freak out if her adrenalin rush failed, Hiela grabbed the book and opened it. It's hard leather cover bound wooden panels and tattered parchment together. There were tabs and bookmarks everywhere, some falling apart, most stained, and a couple readable. This was it! If anything here was going to save their asses it was going to be whatever the hell this thing was. She skimmed through them looking for the words that would mean their salvation. _"Come on... Come on... YES!"_ She had finally found the page she was looking for. A shimmering archway was shown in the center of it, and words were scrawled all around it. 

Turning to Joan, Hiela said. _"Say this! Say it NOW!"_ She thrust the book into his face. When he looked down, her finger was pointing at a particular passage on the page Hiela had turned to. She kept tapping one word. Joan turned back to the portal, he saw the horde of monsters rushing forward. They were now about 20 meters away, at this point he could start to make out details about them: the Variety of skin colors, the horned heads, the winged things flying just above the monster running on foot. They all looked like classical depictions of demons! _"Sigillum!"_ He shouted at the portal while waving the dagger at it. The Portal started to shrink and close. It just didn't close fast enough. Just as the portal was the size of a large pizza, one of the demons came hurtling through. It landed with a hard thump at the base of Carth's makeshift cover. Dominic was rushing it before it even got up. Just as Dominic was stepping close to it, a second one came hurtling through, although it would be more apt to say that _most_ of another demon came through the portal. Said portal slammed shut on the lower half of the monster, cutting off his legs and tail. The upper half, however, went flying into Dominic claws first.

As the first one got up from the ground, the first close look of these things. It stood 5 feet tall at its head, 6 feet if you count the horn jutting from its forehead. Its pebbly, red skin seemed to shift subtly in the light of the closed portal. The tiny wings on the back of its emaciated torso seemed more like decoration than for any actual use. Flexing and unflexing, its long, smooth tail moved in the air, the blade like, bone protrusion on its end a perfect match for the one in Joans hands. As it looked around, it's bright yellow eyes locked onto Joan and Hiela, it started marching forward. It raised its claws in the air, and its tail whipped forward and pointed directly the pair of college students. In the moment it took trying to decide which thing to stab first, Carth had taken the opportunity to throw a dagger at its exposed back. The 6 inches of steel bit into its back and slid in between the prominent ribs. Whatever was inside this hellish beast didn't take well to being stabbed in the back. The demon roared and turned around to face Carth. As it lunged toward the man behind cover, its tail flicked out and slashed Joans chest, leaving a long gash. The demon then went to eviscerate Carth. At least, that was the intention. What it saw when it turned around was a blur of steel, and then nothing. Dominics short machete had met with the eyes on one side of the head and exited the back of the head on the opposite side.. 

_"Take.. that..."_ Dominic then promptly fell on his ass, clutching his side. Red stains could be seen running down the side of his coat. Joan and Hiela were kneeling next to him in an instant. Hiela moved his coat out of the way, and nearly vomited. It peeled back like a layer of skin, there was enough blood on the underside to stick the leather of the coat to his now ruined shirt. Before Hiela had a chance to start panicking, Joan was giving orders. He started by telling Hiela to grab the leather sewing kit she kept in her bag. The same one that Carth had used when he worked on Dominics coat. _"I don't know how to use this thing!"_ She said with a bit of heat in her voice. _"Carth is the aspiring tailor!"_ She pointed at Carth, who was doing something of his own. _"Calm down, remember what my minor is in?"_ He took the kit from her and started to measure out a long length of heavy thread. _"You're... You're a biology minor!"_ she said, realizing his plan. _"Specifically, anatomy. Now hold him down, this is going to hurt."_ Joan then proceeded to rip away the shirt that Dominic was wearing, under any other circumstances Hiela would have loved the view, now though all she could focus on were the large claw marks that had ripped into Dominic. After he removed the offending shirt, he readied the needle, and started to sew. 

_"SON-OF-A- BITCH! Can't you do that any faster?!"_ Dominic yelled as the needle started to pierce flesh

 _"Not and keep you from bleeding out, If you feel up to complaining, then regulate your breathing. Also, pass me your flask, I know you have one on you."_ Joan said while making sure he didn't puncture anything other than skin.

 _"One, Why? Two, What?"_ Dominic asked.

 _"SO THAT YOU DON"T FUCKING BLEED OUT! Now do what I say and stop questioning me, that way I can keep your ass alive."_ Joan said as he went back to work.

While he hadn't paid perfect attention to his biology and anatomy class last semester, he remembered enough to know two major things when closing a wound. 1.) To make each stitch an individual loop of thread. 2.) To clean the wound with alcohol before closing it. Joan took the flask from Dominics hand, smearing his blood all over it. He unscrewed the top and dumped its contents into the gashes. Dominic looked like he was going to scream, then a dark fluid oozed out of the wound. Leaving enough room to make sure the skin wouldn't tear the first time Dominic moved, Joan made suture after suture. He didn't have the time or tools for anything complicated, so he made do with simple sutures. His profesor would have killed him if he saw the ramshackle job he was doing. After about 2 minutes, Joan was done with the last stitch. He fell back this time, exhausted from his work. As he lay down on the oddly comfortable concrete floor beneath him, he felt like he had forgotten something... something important, and painful. He passed out with the blood from his own wound staining his already ruined shirt.

* * *

_"Carth! Can you sew?"_ He had turned around for 3 minutes to take care of the little monster that everyone else seemed to have forgotten about. _"Stay right here. Or else."_ He said to his new acquaintance. After binding the thing with his shoe laces, Carth came running over to the crazy people he called friends. _"What's... God damn it... Hand me that sewing kit, and prop him up."_ He leaves them alone for 2 minutes and this happens. He couldn't suture the wounds like Joan had, but he could sew the skin like you would thin leather. God... All of those tailoring electives his mom made him take were finally being useful... He could feel the 'Told ya So' that she must be screaming from the afterlife. It wasn't pretty, and it certainly wouldn't heal well, but it was all he could do. If he had an actual medical treatment bag, then maybe he could have done better... But Joan was the Med-school student. 

_"Hiela, do you speak latin?"_ Carth turned to her and gave her a questioning glance. She looked at him and seemed to remember something, as she said: _"Yes, by the way, this whole book is written in a form of latin! It really is-"_ As 'rousing' as he was sure her conversation about the book made of what was probably human skin would be, he had angrier problems at the moment. Namely the demon thing that was trying to squirm its way off of the roof. _"HEY! GET BACK HERE!"_ He ran after it, just as he was about to grab its leathery wings, they flared open, and extended 3 extra feet in every direction. With a hard beat of its now large wings, it took off into the sky and started flying into the distance. 

From behind Carth and Hiela, Dominic could be heard: _"Did that thing just fly off into the city."_ Carths response was a simple _"Yup..."_ Which was then followed up by Hiela saying: _"Thats sooooooo not going to end well..."_


End file.
